Occupation
by Exploding Genius
Summary: B'Elanna has to decide whether or not to break the Prime Directive and defy the Captain -- it's not very good, but this is my first ever fanfic story, so go easy on me!


The massive doors to the cargo bay hissed shut, leaving perfect silence in the huge room. A console was barely visible behind a wall of storage bins, and it was there that B'Elanna Torres' current project took her.  
She was so intent on the PADD she was reading that she almost missed the com call from Tom.  
"Paris to Torres," he said. She didn't look up. "B'Elanna, respond!" His voice was loud enough to get her attention this time. She tapped her combadge.  
"Sorry, Tom. I was concentrating..." she trailed off, running a few more calculations.  
"That's okay," he said amiably. "I was just making sure we were still on for tonight."  
"Yeah," she said vaguely.  
"Okay," he replied, sounding uncertain. "Eighteen hundred hours. Don't be late!"  
"I won't," B'Elanna said, suddenly realizing that she should have been paying attention. "Torres out." She could almost hear Tom rolling his eyes, and she cringed, but got back to work.   
It seemed very soon that the calculations were finished. B'Elanna was about to return to Engineering to finish her task when she remembered her date with Tom. Checking the chronometer, she was shocked to discover that she had only ten minutes before she was expected to meet him in the holodeck.  
She reached for her PADD, which was resting on the top of the console. But her hand froze halfway. It seemed to collapse inward, as though space-time was being warped just above her wrist. She rotated her hand so that her palm was facing upward, but the distortion remained the same. She moved her arm up and down, and it seemed to fluctuate, as though she was moving it through a spacial rift.  
It was beginning to make her feel dizzy, but she was unable to tear her eyes away. Without even thinking, she reflexively took a step back. She rotated her hand in front of her eyes, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. She stumbled backward, then turned and walked briskly out of the cargo bay.  
  
A few minutes later, she sat on a biobed in sickbay, watching the doctor's face as he studied his scans, and looking distinctly uncomfortable.  
"Hmm..." the doctor said quietly.  
"'Hmm' what?" she demanded angrily.  
"I'm not detecting anything unusual," he said, frowning at his console. She looked at her hand again.  
"I know what I saw," she said.  
"Have you considered the possibility that you were hallucinating?" the doctor asked.  
"Hallucinating?" she snarled. She jumped to her feet. "Are you saying I'm crazy?"  
"Your sanity has nothing to do with it," the doctor said, opening his tricorder and scanning her. "Hallucinations can be caused by many things."  
Before B'Elanna could respond, Tom Paris sprinted through the doors. The doctor and B'Elanna looked up sharply.  
"B'Elanna?" he said. "Are you alright? I waited for an hour, and then the computer told me you were here!"  
"An hour?" she asked shrilly. "I can't have been here an hour!" Tom and the doctor raised their eyebrows, confused. "What time is it?"  
"It's nineteen hundred hours," the doctor said.  
"Nineteen hundred hours? But I left the cargo bay ten minutes before our date started!"  
"And you arrived here ten minutes ago," the doctor said.  
"Maybe I should run a diagnostic on the ship's chronometer system," B'Elanna said. "I probably just lost track of time while I was working."  
"It wouldn't be the first time," Tom said. B'Elanna glared at him.  
"Your brain is perfectly normal," the doctor interrupted, running his scans through the computer. "Your hand and your eyes are also normal. It seems there is no explanation for this phenomenon!"  
"Well, whatever it was, it's gone now," B'Elanna said, studying her hand.  
"Still up for that date?" Tom asked.  
"Yeah, sure," she said, shrugging and sliding off the biobed. The doctor watched them leave sickbay, raised an eyebrow, and then returned to organizing his hyposprays.  
  
The next day, B'Elanna found that her work took her back to the cargo bay. Her first thought was to assign someone else to the task, but then she shook herself mentally and pushed the thought from her mind. Why should I be scared of the cargo bay?  
But as she worked, she realized just how jumpy she was. Being an engineer, she knew Voyager's every vibration, every imperceptible shudder. Now, each one seemed unfamiliar, and she had to restrain herself from jumping back from the console every time she felt something.  
She concentrated harder, and finally, to her great, if repressed, relief, she finished the task. She was gathering her things when she noticed that her hand seemed distorted once again.  
She was about to call sickbay, but froze in her tracks when a tiny flash of light appeared, just above her middle finger, and then dispersed. And what followed was even more bizarre. A searing pain shot through her hand. She cried out, then tapped her combadge with the other hand.  
"Torres to sickbay! Medical emergency!"  
  
For the second time that week, B'Elanna found herself in sickbay. Not getting weak, are we? she asked herself.  
"I've treated your injury, but I'm at a loss as to what caused it," the doctor said. B'Elanna examined her hand again. Though the technology had existed all her life, B'Elanna was always surprised by the effects of the dermal regenerator. A sickeningly gory wound would exist one minute, and vanish the next.  
"What was it?"  
"The only thing I can compare it to is a plasma burn," the doctor said.  
"A plasma burn?" B'Elanna cried, shocked.  
"Were you near the warp core when this happened?"  
"I was in the cargo bay!"  
"Is there anything in the cargo bay that could have caused this?"  
"The plasma burn, yes, but not the distortions I saw."  
"Perhaps hallucinogenic chemicals were being released," the doctor suggested.  
"I doubt it. Anything stored in the cargo bay is kept perfectly safe."  
"Perhaps you should check anyway. I don't want this happening to anyone else."  
Since when does the Chief Engineer take orders from the holographic doctor? B'Elanna frowned, but told him she would investigate.  
  
After leaving sickbay, entered the nearest turbolift and ordered it to the cargo bay. She also tapped her combadge.  
"Torres to Ensign Vorik."  
"Go ahead."  
"Meet me in Cargo Bay One."  
"On my way."  
The young Vulcan arrived in the cargo bay just minutes after B'Elanna did.  
"You requested my presence?" he said emotionlessly.  
"Yes..." She was scanning diligently with her tricorder. "Twice, when I've been in here, I've seen a strange distortion. The second time, there was some kind of antimatter explosion. Let's see if we can figure out what's happening."  
Vorik pulled his tricorder from its place at his waist, and began scanning as well. It beeped softly, but didn't pick anything up. B'Elanna was scanning the console where she had been working. Vorik was about to ask if he should look for anything specific when B'Elanna's tricorder began bleeping frantically.  
"I've got something," she said. The ensign began scanning in the same area. His tricorder beeped as well. When the readings registered in his brain, his eyebrow shot up.  
"Highly improbable," he said.  
"My thoughts exactly," B'Elanna responded.  
  
B'Elanna stood next to the computer panel in the briefing room. The eyes of all the senior officers were on the readings she was showing them.  
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Tom said, "but that looks like a warp signature."  
"Precisely," B'Elanna said. "We detected this right above the console where I experienced what appeared to be spacial distortions."  
"Warp engines would distort the space along their course," Captain Janeway said.  
"But what warp engine would be flying around the cargo bay?" Harry Kim asked.  
"I once heard a legend about microscopic people who live among us, unseen," Chakotay said.  
"Microscopic people?" Tom asked incredulously.  
"They could be from a parallel universe," Neelix said.  
"Doesn't that seem a little... illogical?" Tom said.  
"When you eliminate the impossible, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the answer," Tuvok said.  
"If there are tiny beings living in our cargo bay, how do we detect them?" Janeway asked.  
"We could just scan for biomatter," the doctor suggested.  
"If there were indeed living organisms on the ship, the internal sensors would have detected them," Tuvok said.  
"Security to Captain Janeway," a voice interrupted, seemingly out of nowhere.  
"Janeway here," the captain responded.  
"There's been another antimatter explosion in the cargo bay."  
"Acknowledged. Keep trying to zero in on their location. Keep me posted. Janeway out."  
"It appears these lifeforms pose a security threat," Tuvok observed.  
"They probably don't even know we're here," Chakotay said. "They're just going about their daily life."  
"I don't care what they're doing. As long as they're endangering this crew, I want them off my ship," Janeway said.  
  
After the briefing, B'Elanna, Harry, and Vorik returned to the shuttle bay. Captain Janeway had made it clear that getting rid of whatever was inventing warp drive in the shuttle bay was top priority. Tom Paris was analyzing the warp signature, so he could pinpoint its origin.  
"Do you think Chakotay was right about the... people from another dimension?" B'Elanna asked in a dull moment.  
"I agree that such an explanation is highly unlikely," Vorik said.  
"But what else could create a warp signature?" Harry asked.  
"You know Chakotay," Tom said, "he has a legend to explain everything."  
"He has a surprising rate of accuracy," Vorik observed.  
"But microscopic people? That seems a little far-fetched," B'Elanna said.  
"I think I've got something," Tom interrupted. The other three crowded around his console. On the screen was a diagram of the cargo bay with two tiny yellow lines running across it.  
"These are the two energy signatures that were detected. They seem to come from the same point," he said.  
"If they are from a different dimension, they'll be out of phase. The point of origin might be fluctuating," B'Elanna said.  
"Maybe we should wait for another distortion, and then try to figure out just how out of phase it is," Harry suggested.  
"A logical course of action," Vorik acknowledged.  
After waiting for only ten minutes, a distortion was detected. Vorik and B'Elanna scanned the surrounding area, and then fed their data into the console.  
"I've isolated the phase variance," Harry said. "Point zero-one-three microns."  
"It might be possible to modify a phaser to shift the variance and bring these people back into phase," Vorik said.  
"But one miscalculation could obliterate their entire universe," Tom said.  
"We'll be careful," B'Elanna responded.  
  
Janeway looked down at B'Elanna from the elevated section of her ready room.  
"What you're proposing could be dangerous," she said finally.  
"We've finished the modifications to the phaser. I really think it could work," B'Elanna responded.  
"I'm not going to be responsible for the destruction of an entire civilization!"  
"If you don't let us try, the ship might be destroyed instead!" Janeway thought about this. She turned and gazed at the stars, a soothing activity that helped her brain sort out all the stress and indecision of command.  
"Alright, Lieutenant. Permission granted."  
"Thank you, Captain."  
B'Elanna turned and left the ready room. Janeway watched her go, thinking what a valuable officer the headstrong Maquis had become.  
  
In the cargo bay, Vorik was checking his calculations one last time. Tom was scanning for a new warp signature, and Harry was looking for spacial distortions. B'Elanna came striding briskly through the door.  
"The captain gave her permission," she reported.  
"I am prepared," Vorik said.  
"I think I'm detecting something," Tom said.  
"Vorik, you have to hit your target before it explodes, or it won't do any good," Harry advised.  
"I am aware of the necessity of good aim. I believe I am well suited to this task." He sounded emotionlessly indignant, and Harry looked taken aback, making Tom smile.  
"There it is," Harry said. The console appeared to be fluctuating. Vorik raised the phaser, zeroed in on his target, and fired.  
The air around the console seemed to crackle with purple electricity. Slowly, as if in a transporter, the figure of a humanoid began to take shape. As he came into focus, he whirled around in surprise.  
"Where...? How...? My ship!" He stuttered for a moment and then fell silent, struggling to understand what had happened.  
"Welcome aboard," Tom said.  
  
"I still don't understand how I got here," the alien man, whose name was Jaxlar, said. Captain Janeway watched him thoughtfully from across the briefing room table.  
"It seems you were slightly out of phase with whatever universe you come from. We were experiencing the space-time distortions and antimatter explosions that we assumed came from your warp core. One of my crew was injured. We found a way to shift your phase variance into our universe to see if we could put an end to the explosions."  
"I'd like to apologize for the explosions. My people are still experimenting with warp drive. But I must also thank you. I am currently leading a resistance against an invading force on my planet. My ship was destroyed just before you brought me here. If I can get back, I can take the enemy by surprise and save my people."  
"We'd be glad to help you," the captain said. "Harry, do you think you can reverse the frequency of the phaser and send our guest back home?"  
"Probably," Harry responded.  
"Good. You, B'Elanna, and Jaxlar get to work," she said. "Dismissed."  
  
Harry, B'Elanna, and Jaxlar went back to the cargo bay, where Vorik had left the modified phaser. They were about to take it with them to Engineering when they noticed yet another distortion.  
"This shouldn't be happening," B'Elanna said, opening her tricorder. Suddenly, three silhouettes appeared, materializing slowly.  
"Jaxlar!" one of them shouted.  
"We knew you'd try to escape! You coward!" They each aimed a large, intimidating weapon at Jaxlar. B'Elanna could think of only one thing to do. She set the phaser to stun, and incapacitated the three men before they knew she was there.  
"We have to get them to sickbay," Harry said once the shock had warn off.  
"Torres to sickbay," B'Elanna said. "Medical emergency!" All six of them dematerialized.  
"Were these men shot?" the doctor asked, confused.  
"It was the only way to keep them from shooting Jaxlar."  
"I was under the impression that our visitors from the alternate universe were friendly."  
"These three just appeared and started threatening Jaxlar," Harry explained.  
"Well, fortunately, they will regain consciousness within the hour. The captain will no doubt be on her way here."  
"Tell her what happened. We have to get back to work," B'Elanna said.  
  
There was little conversation while they worked. However, B'Elanna had the distinct feeling that there was some tension in the air. Finally, Jaxlar confirmed her suspicions.  
"Those three men were the leaders of the invaders who took over my planet," he said to no one in particular. B'Elanna and Harry looked up, but didn't respond. Jaxlar continued. "With them here, their subordinates would not know how to act. The resistance could regain control of our home."  
"Are you suggesting that we hold those men here while you save your planet?"  
"I know you don't want to get involved, but they've been so cruel to us, and the occupation has lasted for nearly a century. This is the perfect opportunity for me."  
"Our Prime Directive prohibits us from getting involved in the affairs of other cultures," Harry said, as much to remind B'Elanna as to enlighten Jaxlar.  
"Has your planet ever been invaded? Have you ever been subject to the tyrannical rule of dictators? Have you watched your friends and family slaughtered in the streets? Terrible injustice is being committed, even as we speak. Can you just go about your business and not even feel guilty?" B'Elanna stared at him. His eyes were full of passion, and he was breathing heavily. Her mind was suddenly flooded by Klingon legends of horror and death.  
"We can ask the captain," she told him. Harry glared, but she ignored him.  
  
"It's a good cause," B'Elanna said.  
"B'Elanna, we just can't get involved. You know the Prime Directive."  
"This is more important than Starfleet protocols! Millions of lives are at stake! All we would have to do is hold our position and keep those men on board."  
"I'm sorry, Lieutenant. End of discussion." B'Elanna looked at her feet, then back at the captain.  
"Captain," she began.  
"I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do. You know I'd like to help as much as you would, but this isn't our business."  
"If you really cared about these people, you wouldn't think twice about the Prime Directive."  
"Sometimes, you have to know when to leave an issue alone."  
"But--"  
"You're dismissed, Lieutenant!" B'Elanna started to protest, but thought better of it. Scowling, she turned to leave.  
  
"What'd she say?" Tom asked. They were having dinner in the mess hall.  
"She said we had to follow her sacred Starfleet protocols," B'Elanna said bitterly.  
"Well, you know what they say: the captain is always right."  
"I know she's right, but I wish there was something we could do for these people. They've lost their home, and they're fighting to get it back. In a way, they're almost like us."  
"Then I guess the question here is, is it worth it to go against the captain's wishes to help someone you can relate to?" They looked at each other for along moment. "I'm working delta shift," Tom said at last. "I'll see you later." He leaned across the table and kissed her softly, then left her to stare blankly into her untouched Pleeka Rind Caserole.  
  
"Jaxlar!" B'Elanna hissed. He glanced up from the PADD he was poring over. "I'm going to send you back to your universe."  
"Have you finished--"  
"Shhh!" she interrupted, noticing the stares they were getting from surrounding crewmen.  
"Why so secretive?" he asked quietly.  
"Technically, I'm not supposed to be helping you."  
"Your captain didn't give permission?"  
"No, but I can get you out of here."  
"Won't you get in trouble?" B'Elanna paused, trying to decide what to say.  
"Don't worry about that. Now, we have to find a way to get you back to your universe." He stared at her for a moment, then nodded, and they left Engineering, trying to look nonchalant.  
They arrived in the cargo bay, which was occupied by two security officers and a few engineers.  
"Ensign," B'Elanna called to one of them. He snapped to attention. "Have you detected any signs of people following our new visitors?"  
"No sir."  
"Good. If anything shows up on sensors, the captain wants to be alerted immediately. We can't have this war being fought on Voyager!"  
Unnoticed, Jaxlar slipped the modified phaser smoothly into his jacket.  
  
"Are you sure you have the calculations right?" Jaxlar asked.  
"They're as close as I can get them," B'Elanna said vaguely, concentrating on the phaser.  
"If this works, you will have saved an entire civilization."  
"Good luck," B'Elanna said. She raised the phaser and shot him. The space around him glittered violet, and he dematerialized.  
B'Elanna was about to congratulate herself when she felt the ship shudder.  
"All senior officers to the bridge," Janeway's voice said. B'Elanna wondered momentarily if it was her fault, but pushed the thought from her mind and sprinted to the nearest turbolift.  
"Bridge," she ordered. The lift seemed to take forever. She counted the decks. Finally, she felt it slowing. When she exited, all eyes were on her. Janeway was giving her the Death Glare. Ducking her head, she rushed to her station.  
"We're being pulled into some sort of subspace anomaly," Tuvok reported.  
"Tom!" Janeway cried.  
"Sorry, Captain. Helm controls are offline!"  
The ship shuddered again, violently. Sparks flew across the bridge.  
"Damage reports are coming in," Chakotay said, shouting over the red alert klaxons.  
"Captain, this is hard to believe, but it looks like we're being pulled into Jaxlar's dimension!" Harry Kim reported. Janeway twisted around in her chair to look at him, as if searching for confirmation. He was engulfed in his sensor readings.  
"Suggestions," the captain ordered.  
"Perhaps a phaser blast at the modified frequency that brought Jaxlar here in the first place would return us to our universe," Tuvok suggested.  
"Or it could get us stuck here forever," Harry said.  
"That's a chance I'm willing to take," Janeway said. "Fire!" Tuvok adjusted the frequency and fired the phasers. The ship shook again, and then everything was silent. Only the blaring of the sirens penetrated the tension on the bridge, as all eyes turned once again to B'Elanna.  
  
"You disobeyed my direct order," the captain said. She was facing the windows in her readyroom, as if the other officer in the room didn't deserve her full attention. "Frankly, I'm disappointed. If you were going to defy me, I would have expected you to get the calculations right. As it is, you endangered the entire crew, and Jaxlar's opposition was killed in an explosion in the brig."  
"I'm sorry, captain. But Jaxlar's planet - his home - was being occupied by a hostile force. It's the same thing the Maquis was fighting in the alpha quadrant. I saw the opportunity to save them, and I took it."  
"You never led me to believe that you joined the Maquis out of compassion for the Bajorans. And even if you had, I wouldn't have believed you."  
"I may not have known compassion then, but haven't you been trying to teach me since Voyager got lost in this quadrant?"  
"Sometimes, the ability to recognize an irrational decision is more important than compassion."  
"You sound like the admirals at Starfleet Academy."  
"Those admirals know what they're doing. Perhaps you should reacquaint yourself with the Prime Directive."  
"You've never cared about the Prime Directive before. You know, it applies to starship captains just like everyone else."  
"You have to know when not to get involved." B'Elanna glared at the captain's back for a long, angry moment.  
"If you were in my position," she said as defiantly as she could, "what would you have done?" Slowly, Janeway turned around to face her. She looked down from the elevated platform as if to say, "how dare you disobey the captain?" Finally, she spoke.  
"Probably the same thing as you." The captain's voice was soft, and B'Elanna watched her eyes, trying to decypher her strange expression.  
"You're relieved of duty until further notice. Dismissed." But her voice was still soft and gentle. There was no anger there. Only understanding.  
"Thank you, Captain," B'Elanna said. The captain replied with a small, knowing smile as B'Elanna turned to leave. Then she turned back to the window and watched the stars rushing by, letting her thoughts wander to other times.  
  
The End  



End file.
